.:Name Puns:.

Goku:
Known in the Japanese version as Son Gokou, the main character of dbz is actually based on the main character in an ancient chinese legend, his Yu Chi(Shee Yo Ji) or The Record of the Journey West. Son Gokou is the japanese translation of the Chinese name Son Wukong. Son Wukong was the Monkey King born of stone thousands of years ago. Son Gokou was based on this character, who was generally kind and goo willed, but sometimes naive...and dangerous. Without straving too far from the path, the story of Dragonball itself is at first based much on the original legend, and throughout the series, many similarities show up between the two.

Gohan:
Gohan is the Japanese word for cooked rice and the suffix for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once again, being a Saiyan, his name is actually based on a vegetable. It's also important to remember that Gohan was actually named after Goku's adoptive grandfather by the same name.

Goten:
Pronounced Goteyn, Goku's second son has a pun that relates directly to his father's name. The first character that makes up their name, (Go), is shared. But, "ku" means sky, and "ten" means heaven.

Bulma and Family:
Bulma is a play on bloomers, which were women's undergarmets that were first introduced in the 1800's. As you'll see, everyone in Bulma's Family is named after some type of undergarmet. For example, both Dr. Briefs and Trunks are respectively variations of underwear and boxers. While Bulma's daughter, Bra, is, well, you know.

Tien:
Known as Tenshinhan in the Japanese version, this is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese words, "Tien Chun Fan", a type a fried rice.

Chiaotzu:
Called Chaozu in the Japanese version, it is actually the direct Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word for "dumpling".